Good things do happen

[Guest guest]

I just thought I'd post about something good that's going on in my 16yo's life.

We just

had an IEP to determine where he'll be going academically for the next year--and

planned

for where he'll be going over the next few years.

He'll be a junior next year. We've decided to send him to the district's votech

program.

He'll be in a small computer maintenance course (7 kids, one instructor) that

runs for two

years and leads to A+ certification. Normally that would mean that we'd have to

pull him

out of the college-track program and go for a Standard diploma instead of an

Advanced

Diploma. But. During his 8th grade IEP, his P.E. teacher suggested that we

skip doing

gym during his freshman year because Ian wouldn't be able to deal with the

noise,

competitive nature of activities, and social concerns required for dressing for

P.E. Here in

VA, you have to have two P.E. credits to graduate. Ian got one this year (in a

modified P.E.

class--which worked very well), but he won't be able to get the other credit

while he's in

the votech program.

So he'll have to spend a fifth year in high school, during which time he'll also

be able to

complete the requirements for the Advanced Diploma. Yeay! He gets to learn an

employable technical skill that he's interested in, and we still get to keep him

on the

college track so his options are still open. Plus he gets an extra year to

mature.

And, as icing on the cake, his math teacher and caseworker are planning to let

him

transfer into an honors math class in the next couple of weeks because he's been

doing so

well in the team-taught class.

This IEP was definitely a win-win situation for us.

Sue C. (I apologize for the strange line breaks. I'm not computer literate

enough to be

able to figure out what's going wrong when I post.)